Centre court abuzz as bees suspend play in Indian Wells

Bees have stopped play on Thursday evening at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

You heard that correctly.

Bees. Have stopped play.

Midway through the third game of Carlos Alcaraz v Alexander Zverev, a sudden invasion of bees caused the chair umpire to intervene and call a halt to play in Stadium 1.

Umpire Mohamed Lahyani was seen being stung on court, and Alcaraz’s agent has since confirmed that the Spaniard was stung on the forehead before fleeing the court for his lockerroom. Both players rushed to the locker room as the horde descended on court.

The bees have been pictured swarming on the match’s cameras, forming a large cluster on the spider cam above the court.

No one knows when play will return, with the match very much up in the air at this stage. Some say it could bee a while.

When a swarm of bees halted play at the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open in 2022, the issue took 90 minutes to resolve.